Have you ever been heating your food and wondered whether the waves your microwave oven emits could pass through its walls or not? If yes, then you’ve come to the right place! Today, we’ll be looking at if microwaves can pass through walls and how your oven works.
Yes, microwaves CAN pass through walls but in a limited capacity. They can pass through most walls – even concrete ones. Otherwise, cell phones wouldn’t work indoors as they do.
However, what type of walls can they pass through? You’ll have to continue reading to find that out and more!
What Walls Can Microwaves Pass Through?
Microwaves have no issues traveling through concrete walls or any other household walls. Although, they will not pass through metal walls or any surface with holes of the same wavelength as the microwaves. This reasoning also explains why microwave ovens can work without leaking any waves through them.
You might have noticed that the oven window has holes about 1 mm in diameter. This allows you to safely look inside without the waves leaking outside.
How Does a Microwave Oven Work?
Now that we’ve discussed what type of walls the waves can pass through, you might be curious to know how your oven works. It’s pretty simple, really; the waves released by your oven are reflected by metal and are absorbed by the food you’re heating up.
Plus, microwaves can pass through plastic, glass, and other similar materials. That is why your food gets heated up despite being wrapped in some kind of plastic or glass material.
Are Microwaves Harmful?
At first glance, you might think that microwaves might be extremely harmful to your health. However, that is not the case. There is no evidence that microwaves can affect your health or pose any risk to it. So, you can safely stand in front of your oven and watch your food get heated.
However, just to be safe, make sure that you stand at a safe distance from the oven. While there are no health concerns, it is always good to take precautions.
Microwaves Vs. Radio Waves
Radio waves are typically used for long-distance communication capabilities and have a frequency of 300 GHz to 3 kHz. At the same time, microwaves have a frequency of 300 GHz to only 300 MHz but have more energy than radio waves.
The main reason microwaves are used more often is that they can pass through the majority of the atmosphere. Microwaves are most commonly used in mobile phones, ovens, signals for televisions, and weather forecasts. Plus, they travel faster than radio waves, making them much more efficient to use.
Conclusion
After extensive research, we can conclude that microwaves pass through walls. However, as aforementioned, the capacity is limited. Otherwise, you would not be able to use mobile phones when you’re indoors. That’s everything you need to know about microwaves. We would appreciate it if you shared this knowledge with your friends and family as well!
